No abstract

This study was performed in order to analyse the prevalence, clinical characteristics and mortality of heavy drinkers among hospitalized patients during a 2-year period. Chronic excessive alcohol consumption (daily intake >80 g of ethanol for males and >40 g for females) was found in 278 of 2913 hospital admissions and was strongly associated with the male sex (90.69%). Heavy drinkers were significantly younger than other admissions (15 and 10 years for men and women, respectively), but showed similar mortality rates to other admissions, despite a much earlier age at death (19.5 years for men and 22 years for women). There was a trend towards higher mortality rates among severe alcoholic women than severe alcoholic men and non-alcoholic women. Liver cirrhosis was the entity most frequently observed in the heavy drinkers, and was significantly more prevalent in alcoholic women.

No abstract

No abstract

Chronic alcoholics frequently show associated malnutrition. Both ethanol and malnutrition exert profound changes on zinc and copper metabolism. In this study, we found higher hair zinc and copper values in 43 male alcoholics than in 39 controls. Hair copper was significantly related to the amount of ethanol consumed, whereas hair zinc was higher in consumers of distilled beverages. No relation was observed between hair zinc and copper and nutritional status, kind of diet consumed, style of life, and liver cirrhosis. Consequently, hair zinc and copper levels are related only with alcohol intake.